Thorn apple

For his Paper Museum Cassiano commissioned artists to make drawings directly from specimens; the resulting works were intended to be clear and objective scientific records. Little is known about these artists, due to the documentary bias of the visual encyclopaedia.

Cassiano was interested in the previously unknown species which at this time were being imported to Europe from the Americas, and sought to include them in the Paper Museum. The thorn apple was one such plant. Its white flower, which opens during the night, emits an unpleasant smell, giving rise to the name erba puzzolaor 'stinking plant'. Another name to have become attached to it is mela del diavolo,or 'devil's apple', a reference to its spiny fruits. The plant has hallucinogenic properties.

This drawing was originally contained in one of two volumes of botanical drawings in Cassiano's collection entitled Erbario Miniato. One of these volumes remains in the Royal Collection, whilst the other left the Royal Library in the early twentieth century and the contents dispersed.